Getting context of another webapp in tomcat

Question

I have the following configuration running on Tomcat 8.0.20:

C:\tomcat
   conf
     server.xml
     context.xml
   webapps
     app
     app2
   ......
C:\external
     app3
        web
     app4
        web
     app5
        web

In context.xml I have <Context crossContext="true"> .... </Context>

And in server.xml:

 ..........
 <Host name="host.com"  appBase="webapps" unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="true">
    <Context 
      cachingAllowed="false"
      docBase="C:\external\app3\web" 
      path="" 
      crossContext="true"
      reloadable="true" />

    <Context 
      cachingAllowed="false"
      crossContext="true"
      docBase="C:\external\app4\web" 
      path="/app4"
      reloadable="true" />

    <Context 
      cachingAllowed="false"
      crossContext="true"
      docBase="C:\external\app5\web" 
      path="/app5"
      reloadable="true" />
 </Host>

Obtaining the Context of /app, /app2 or /app5 from /app4 works as espected:

request.getServletContext().getContext("/app") is not null.

However, requesting the Context of /app3 (with context path /).

Any idea why getContext("/") is null?

Here's an [example](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11001623/forwarding-requests-between-contexts-in-tomcat)... you need to set the root path. — Edward J Beckett, Mar 16 '15 at 17:11
Just changed `/app3` to `/` which is now the root path. Still doesn't work for apps outside `webapps`. Any ideas? — Ivan Nikolchov, Mar 16 '15 at 17:53
Just a hunch... try using path relative mapping instead of 'windows' dir mapping... I.E. `/external/app3/web`, `/external/app4/web` — Edward J Beckett, Mar 16 '15 at 18:04

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 21 '15 at 18:23

2

As it turned out, it's a regression in tomcat after version 8.0.15

Filed a bug report here

Reverted tomcat to 8.0.15 and it's working now....

answered Mar 21 '15 at 18:23

Ivan Nikolchov

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Getting context of another webapp in tomcat

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